Taoist Medicine Wheel (Tao of the Shaman Book1)

What Others Say About

Taoist Medicine Wheel

Excellent for beginners in Taoism and Chinese Medicine...very easy to understand. Some concepts of the Five Elements, for example, are defined and explained better than in many other books on acupuncture. It is an excellent book for those who have little knowledge of Taoism. It is rich in graphics and I should have read it long ago. JJDS, Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapist.

Excellent book, explains several techniques that will be familiar to those already initiated in the use of the I Ching, medicine wheels, Taoist meditation, shamanic practices and Chinese 5 element healing. Very pleased. RP, Shamanic Practitioner

I found this book very informative and easy to understand. Being a practitioner I have found it helpful in my studies. A must have for students/practitioners alike. I found this book very informative and easy to understand. Being a practitioner I have found it helpful in my studies. A must have for students/practitioners alike. AR Taoist Practitioner

This title explains the principles of Taoist medicine: it's origination, how it relates to the Chinese Zodiac, the I Ching, and the possibility of alignment with the pakua. For those who are unfamiliar with one or more of these terms, this is the title to pick up. Thus, this title is one for the eastern philosophy enthusiast. Whether you want to be, or already are, pick up this title and learn. FB

TAOIST MEDICINE WHEEL

(Tao of the Shaman Book 1)

By

Kris Deva North

Copyright © 2010-2014 Kris Deva North

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Countless thousands of us in the West have reaped the benefit of ancient Taoist lore, from the Tao of Pooh to the secrets of acupuncture, the mystery of Yin and Yang and the rejuvenating practices of the Healing Tao.

Now we can see how it all began, and how the Tao, the way and the light, began to illuminate, in the lives of those early pioneers of Taoist Shamanism, the art of stepping lightly in all worlds.

Now we can understand why the practices were so long kept secret, and why 'you cannot tell a sage by his clothes.'

Where do we modern folk fit in the medicine wheel? Indeed, what is the medicine wheel? How did the Dragon gain his ascendancy to mandate the Son of Heaven? Who was the Great Bear and how did he split the land? Why does the Yangtse River flood even today? Nothing less than fascinating is this exploration of the shamanic origins of Taoist practice unravelling the webs of mystery clinging to our modern perception of ancient practice.

Thoroughly researched, rich in history and with detailed maps, drawings and lucid explanations, The Taoist Medicine Wheel casts new light on the I Ching, the Five Elements and the Three Pure Ones. Check out the Chapter comparing other shamanic traditions for a real insight into the common threads of the origins of human spiritual thought!

Table of Contents

Introduction: What is a Shaman

Chapter 1: Taoist Shamanic Tradition - from Mystery to History

Chapter 2: Comparison with other Traditions

Chapter 3: Evolution of the Medicine Wheel

Chapter 4: The Five Elements

Chapter 5: The Twelve Animals

Chapter 6: I Ching - the Book of Change

Chapter 7:..Using the Wheel in Life

Chapter 8: Wheel of Love

Chapter 9: Shamanic Practice

Chapter 10: Spirit Guides

Chapter 11: Creating Power Fields

Chapter 12: The Wheel of Healing

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Bibliography

Preview Kris's Next Book

INTRODUCTION

What is a Shaman?

The Shaman is the Healer in the community and, particularly in the Taoist tradition, is known only to the community, unknown in the Outer World. This secrecy stems from the days of persecution.

As Healing Warrior, the Shaman mediates with, or combats, Spirit, by taking into her or himself the energies, to heal and to seal. From its shamanic roots, Taoism rose to become the official religion of the Imperial Dynasties. It is the foundation of most Chinese art, of the Traditional Chinese Medicines we know today as acupuncture and herbalism, of Chinese Astrology and Divination, of Tai Chi Chuan the 'Supreme Ultimate' combining meditation and martial art, and of the esoteric sexual practices taught to the Emperors by their female advisers to form the basis of Taoist Alchemy: the quest for immortality.

With the rise of Buddhism shamans were persecuted, like witches in the west. They continued their practices in secret, without the use of drums, rattles, robes or other articles of the craft to identify them. The saying goes 'you cannot tell a sage by his clothes.' They were also known as magicians, wizards and sorcerers.

'Magic is like religion. It can be of great benefit, or cause great harm. In Taoist magic as in the Tao, there is no judgment - we are all responsible for ourselves. As long as you do not harm another being, you are free to do what you want.'

Outside of the Imperial Court Taoism evolved as the folk religion, the Old Ways common to many First Nations, a way of mystery and secrecy, with rites, rituals, and initiations. A notice stating 'There is an altar in this house' was a sign of a safe haven for the travelling Taoist during the Buddhist persecutions. The tradition has been maintained to this day to show the location of a Taoist household or temple.

Barefoot healers, pre-Taoist shamans, wearing red headbands, wandered naked and were subject to fits, a characteristic particularly of the Siberian but also known among shamans of other traditions.

The shaman, as 'mediator with spirit' is chosen by spirit and called by humans when healing practices such as herbs, massage, acupuncture or allopathy have failed. If the sickness prevails, Shaman finds out from Spirit what healing the soul needs for the body to be whole again. Everything is a gift and a blessing, for everything is Love, and gratitude and thanks must be given even for hurt and pain. Then harmony can be restored between soul and body.

Practitioners of shamanism can be susceptible to suffering afflictions of spirit in this earthly dimension. I personally know two people, one an acknowledged practitioner and the other a young boy recognized by his teachers as having shamanic power, which have an extremely difficult time living in the 'normal' world themselves but through their spirit-connection are able to help others. This of course is where modern-day Taoist practitioners have the advantage of the Healing Tao system to protect themselves from depletion and contamination.

Families and priests, sources of the great Schools of Taoism with their ideological and geographical differences, practiced Shamanic Taoism as local cults. The simple philosophy, or Tao Chia, expounded by Lao Tsu in the Tao Te Ching c600 BCE had become Tao Chiao, religious dogma, by 2nd Century of the first millennium. The 'Do-It-Yourself' principles of Taoism were competing with Confucianism's reassuringly strict codes of behavior for all situations. After another thousand years the Complete Clarity school sought to return to the simplicity of the original practice.

The Medicine Wheel is a way of entering different states at will, to 'step lightly in all worlds.'

CHAPTER ONE

Taoist Shamanic Tradition - From Mystery to History

When first man stood upon the land and looked about the horizon he saw in the distance around him the edge of a mystic circle where heaven above touched earth below. Moving about within that circle he noticed certain constants:

That wherever he moves his place is always at the center, between heaven and earth;

That for each one it is the same, and so for each one different;

That the sun always rises from one point in that circle and sets in another, and then heaven darkens until lit by stars, or an inconstant moon;

That whereas the sun moves across heaven by day, by night heaven moves around one star;

And that North Star remains fixed and constant, and for each one it is the same, and so the same for all, wherever man moves on earth;

Thus each of one of us is the center of our own universe, while the heavens have their own center.

Thus Man observed the power of Heaven, whose Fire warms and illuminates earth. Water falls from heaven to earth. Lightning splits heaven and strikes earth and heaven rumbles. Wind rushes between heaven and earth. Heaven commands Earth. Thus whoever has Heaven's Mandate rules the Earth.

*

Man or Woman, the human is a curious animal, an inquisitive creature that likes things explained. Before we had the means of measuring or scientific explanation, we sat around fires or huddled in caves after some natural disaster and tried to explain it. Imagine yourself in a world changed by great earth-moving and heaven-rending events such as earthquakes, lightning, storms and floods. Plausible explanations and stories spread and legends grew as families evolved into clans, tribes became states, kingdoms became an empire.

War and conquest, pestilence and famine caused the migrations of peoples towards each other where they might fight to gain this or marry to gain that, and one way or another the bloodlines mingled. It was not only the bloodlines, but the superstitions, beliefs and their totems.

Totems spread among tribes, and to other territories. Nomads from west of the Huang and Yangtze Rivers settled near sources of water, the Huang valley and upper Yangtze. They cleared forests; planted crops raised Sheep, Cows and Horses, venerating the spirits of these creatures of nourishment. What happens to a river affects the people living along its banks. As local populations increased so did their flocks and herds. Overgrazing eroded the pastures, tearing up roots that hold earth in place. When rain fell from Heaven washing away Earth, riverbeds became shallow with silt, and flooding destroyed land and livelihood. Thus Heaven had power over Earth.

The rivers of China have flooded since time immemorial, displacing populations who carried their customs and beliefs from south to north here, north to south there, east to west and west to east, invading now, being invaded then, rulers today, refugees tomorrow, forming alliances, making enemies, adopting totems that evolved into common practice. Turtle from the southeast spread north, Bear from the north stretched south.

Other spirits abounded. Tigers preyed on flocks and herds, were seen to have power, and adopted as totem. Snakes, a phallic symbol through all ages and cultures, symbolized fertility. That they liked living in dark places such as graveyards gave them a connection with death: they occupied the two extremes of the human spectrum. Snakes also kept Rats away and Rats were seen